It's a pretty dumb title but Michigan State fans seem to love that dumb movie and use it all the time now(dumb arena sounds: SPARTANS WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION? AWWWWOOOOOOO AWWWWWWWOOOOOO!). I always wonder what they would do if that movie was never made. They might use that extra time making fun of Novak more than they do now. From RCMB Post Novak owning MSU:
I seriously can't remember wanting to punch someone in the face as much as I do this little twerp.
He's a cheap shot artist who undercuts people, a flopper and a constant whiner to officials
The fact we are losing to these clowns is embarrassing. Novak is a joke. That program is a joke.
That's just the tip of the ice burg of the hatred that the MSU fans and that disgrace of board have for Novak. You would have figured after Novak burns you for six three pointers and a win at BC you might give the kid his due. You might wanna give him some respect. He hustled more than your whole team put together. He showed more heart all night than any Spartan could muster. Every Big Ten coach would want this kid on their team. Even the almighty Izzo.
This year we were the team to bring the real swords. Novak didn't back down and neither did this team. Watching the young guys for MSU and watching the young guys for Michigan gave me good confidence for Michigan going forward. Outside of Appling the other young kids look scared on the court while Michigan's feel right at home. I think Izzos tough cold coaching can hold some freshman back from having good first years. Even the 2nd year man Nix still looks a bit scared out on the court. If I had my choice between Nix or Horford... I take Horford every time. Michigan looks fresh with a bright future while MSU looks lost. I am not saying MSU won't be good going forward but Michigan is inching closer to them.
In fact many of MSU players look like they are just sick of playing at MSU. Summers spends most his nights sitting on the three point line refusing to drive to the basket and tuning out Izzo while Devon Roe looks like the same player he was when he got there. Lucas maybe the only guy thats left of the elders who wanna keep pushing on. The latest to be kicked from the team Korie Lucious looked to do his own thing most the time and said screw everyone else. They all seem to think they are first round NBA guys and they are not.
Michigan will move on to play Iowa and I hope win but you never know with this young team and Novak will continue to push this team to get better while Michigan State will play under the pressure with maybe playing in a NIT this year(OMG the world might end!) but I think in the end they will do enough to make it into the field of 68. Say what you want about Novak and the rest of the fellas out of A2 but they just kicked your ass for the better part of 40 mins. Maybe you will respect our guys next time.
Update: Michigan beat Iowa and Novak continues to be hot. OSU next.... eehh
Update II: MSU beats Indiana by a hair. MSU is lucky a small white dude from Indiana dribbled out 20 secs of clock to only end up getting pancaked by Green for a loss.
Before the MSU game I told myself it was gonna be a 20 point beating. Just so I wasnt let down. I had no idea it was gonna be a Murder. So it was. A Blood bath. It's no secret that we are less then good. We packed it in and watched as I watched at home as MSU ran up down playing basketball. Dunking,pushing,scraping. We were zombie's.
You know what they say.. You can't bring a Nerf sword to a Knife fight.
We are mismatched at every position. They are stronger,faster and foul the shit out of us. At the end of the day that makes them better. MSU plays like it's a battle ground. They bring sharp objects and we bring Nerf toys. Why can't we bring sharp objects? For many reason. We have no swagger,no big man and no leader. That is gonna kill any basketball team. Oh and we can't shoot to save our lives but that's besides the point. So what went wrong? Everything(I refuse to dive into that question).
Is Coach B our guy?
For all the yahoo's asking if Coach B is the man for the job...Yeah he is. He took that team plus two walk ons and made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA's. That took a great deal of mother f-in coaching.. and some luck. We know that now after this years bust. He can coach. UM right now has the 23rd best recruiting class so he is getting some good kids. He is our coach. So either support him or shut it.
What about next year?
I know we have the big 10 tourney coming up and could beat Iowa and maybe...maybe Purdue but I just don't see it. I see an Iowa win and then a Purdue winning by 10-15 to end the season. So what about next year. Lots of people saying that if Manny goes pro(If he goes pro he will live in the D League) how in the world will we be any better? Well it's simple. Make shots. Get a big man(anyone anyone?) and just win. UM gets a shit ton of open looks but just misses. John B is one of the best X and O coaches around and does get open looks for his players. If they can get the mojo back and some new comers can hit some shots, you may be surprised what a new fresh team can do. Morris never hit that Frosh wall and just got better.
Trey Trey coming?
Well seeing that he was at the MSU game.. I wouldnt hold my breath. MSU is coming on strong for him. Just so we dont end up with him and his dad wants him to play for the Chips. Loosing + Manny staying=Try going else where IMO. After the year we had... I just dont see it.
I still love this basketball team.
I have been cheering on this team since 1990. I haven't stopped. Yesterday I whore my 90's fab five maize shorts to open gym. Yes I heard shit from my fellow man but I didnt care. This is my team. I stick with my coach. Things can only get better from here. All the people that hate on this team and the coach...
Chris Webber isn't walking through that door... Not because he doesn't want to but... because he's not allowed to.
Tomorrow our Wolverines travel to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers (7 pm. Espn). Minnesota(14-8, 5-5) is probably a team that needs another signature win to have a legitimate shot of making the NCAA Tournament. This is the first meeting for these two teams this season.
Minnesota is coming off a two point win at Penn St. on Saturday. This is a team that has lost 4 of its last 6 but in all fairness two of those losses were against Michigan St. The Gophers are led in scoring by the two guards, Lawrence Westbrook and Blake Hoffarber. Ralph Sampson III clogs up the middle and could potentially provide some matchup problems for Michigan. Minnesota is without guard Al Nolen for the season, suspended due to academic issues, so they will need someone else to step up and score for them.
We all remember what happened the last time Michigan ventured into Minnesota. The Wolverines pulled out a huge road victory to wrap up their first birth in the NCAA tournament in 10 years. Well a year has gone by, and right now it looks like it will be another 10 years before we see the tournament again. The Wolverines offensive game plan will be, let Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims combine to score 40 points and pray to God that you can get 20 points from any combination of the rest of the team. We are a team that has lost 2 in a row and 5 of 6, we need a win to even think about making the NIT.
Last time I wrote a prediction for this blog, we were blown out at home. I stupidly predicted a Michigan win. Well fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I realize stranger things have happened, but I wouldn’t bet any money on us winning this game.
After watching this basketball season you just hope that the new class coming in can make something happen. The class is ranked 24th right now by ESPN and would take a major boost if Trey Ziegler committed. Trey seems to be keeping things close to the vest and not much is known other than that UM is in a nice spot for him but with Duke coming on strong and even his Dad's team CMU he will be a tough land. Maybe I am putting to much into this but this video makes me feel like our chances are lessening.
He talked about CMU being a winner and being at the top of the MAC. This is either a good interview response or winning is a big factor in where he will end up. With Michigan looking pretty much awful this year and next year could be that "rebuilding year"... Will Trey really want to come here? He would be a huge scoring boost and a kid that could help right away. I don't know if Manny has anything to do with his verbal to Michigan but if winning is his top priority then our chances may be slipping lower and lower.
We need him bad for he future and even next year but if he goes else where I hope John has a back up plan.
Useless info: I saw Trey while reffing a girls Mt.Pleasant game. He has nice size at 6'5". That is all.
Midnight Maize Foot Clan note: I now set up a feed to the twitter and the Book of Faces so now when you post it will go to both in auto style.. boooooyea!
Well that could of gone better, I don’t know what this team’s problem is, I can’t believe that the loss of CJ Lee and David Merritt would have this big on an effect. Maybe that’s the problem though, or maybe Beilein still doesn’t have the right guys for his system (where have we heard that before?). I don’t know, but the fact of the matter is, that this team is terrible right now.
Zack Novak and Stu Douglas finished with 3 points, all of which came from the free throw line. They shot a combined 0 of 5 from the field and 3 of 6 from the charity stripe. Michigan shot 44 percent from the field, 18 percent from beyond the arc, and 57 percent from the free throw line. We only attempted 11 threes, and Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims scored 29 of the teams 44 points. I said it before the game and I’ll say it now a little bit louder: SOMEONE ELSE NEEDS TO SCORE FOR THIS TEAM.
Wisconsin on the other hand, shot 54 percent from the field and 52 percent behind the arc(11-21), it seemed like Michigan would play good defense up until there was about 3 seconds left on the shot clock, then they would collapse. The Badgers look like the real deal right now, and in fact my own the state of Michigan in basketball. In a continuing trend we were also out rebounded 28-16.
I don’t know if there is anything good we can take away from this game. Darius Morris played fairly well, and I really think he is going to be a good ball player. It seemed to me that when he was able to penetrate good things would happen. You can see that the rough season has had an effect on Stu Douglas and Zack Novak’s confidence as they hesitate instead of jacking up shots.
Overall I was so disgusted watching this game, I nearly ripped out my own eyes. A week and a half ago I thought we had a realistic shot to make the NIT, but I think that dream has been crushed. Hopefully Beilein can get Zeigler to commit and He and Manny Harris can put together a great season next year.
The 16th ranked Badgers make the trip across Lake Michigan to take on Michigan at Crisler Arena(Saturday 4pm CBS). Wisconsin is 17-5 with a 7-3 conference mark, while our Wolverines sit at 11-11 with a 4-6 conference record.
The one thing that gives me hope in this game, is the Wolverines 9-3 record at home, and Wisconsin's 2-4 record on the road. When you look at it that way this game is winnable. In the six road games the Badgers have played in conference play, their two wins have come against Penn St and Northwestern. They are probably coming off of their most impressive win of the year, beating Sparty by 18 at home. Sophomores Rob Wilson and Jordan Taylor will continue to get PT with Jon Leuer’s wrist keeping him on the bench. I expect Wisconsin to continue the trend of playing with a smaller lineup, and Trevon Hughes to continue to do what he does.
In these teams first meeting, Michigan jumped out to an early 11 point lead, led most of the game, and then squandered it at the end. This has been said 800,000 times but these kids need to start hitting the outside shot. In an offense that thrives on the three ball, shooting 29 percent just isn’t going to get it done. I would imagine DeShawn Sims will get some good looks and be able to wreak havoc on the Badgers defense all day long. Hopefully Manny will be Manny minus the jacking up of crazy three pointers.
This team has been playing better, especially if you don’t count the train wreck against Northwestern. I think if we are able to knock down some threes(at a better clip than 29 percent) they stand a decent chance to win. I’m really hoping that this game is Darius Morris’s breakout game. If this kid becomes a solid contributor, I’ll feel a lot better about the future of this team.
Prediction UM 56 Whisky 51
Just so you know, I’ve never previewed an athletic event before, and I am far from a basketball expert, so it may be worth your while to check out Tim’s preview(if he posts one) on the mothership.
11:02 PM
The Shredder
, Posted in
I seriously can't remember wanting to punch someone in the face as much as I do this little twerp.
